During an interview with Comic Book, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have revealed that part of the original plan for the superhero blockbusters was to introduce the character of Richard Rider, a.k.a. Nova, and explore his origin story.
“We actually had, I remember in the big manifesto thing that we did, where the first work we did on these movies where we just… every possible storyline that you could take from what’s around, that Nova has the Xandarian Worldmind,” said Markus. “Yeah, the Xandarian Worldmind, was that after… it was almost going… In this conception, he would be the herald, not unlike the Hulk, who was actually standing in for the Silver Surfer, but that one member of the Nova Corps survived Thanos’ attack. The Xandarian Worldmind would be the voice of Glenn Close, because you had her and why not? And that he would be Richard Rider and he would come to earth.”
The Xandarian Worldmind is similar to the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence, and is a supercomputer which contains the experiences, knowledge and personalities of the deceased members of the Nova Corps. As Markus explains, Richard Rider would have inherited this in Infinity War, before going on to become a key figure in the battle against Thanos. However, as McFeely points out, the decision was made to drop Nova, as it would have been “introducing a whole new character when we’re trying to say goodbye to all the ones that you know.”
This isn’t the first time that Nova has been considered for the MCU, as the character was set to appear in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy at one point during that film’s development. Meanwhile, Marvel chief Kevin Feige has stated in the past that “if we have a big board with a bunch of characters that have more immediate potential, Nova is on that board”, while rumours earlier this year suggested that a Nova solo movie is in active development at the studio.
Would you have liked to see Nova included in Infinity War and Endgame? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @flickeringmyth…
Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Benedict Wong (Wong), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Evangeline Lilly (The Wasp), Letitia Wright (Shuri) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie).